Of flags and flagpoles

I was at a meeting at an office on the lovely Abu Dhabi corniche this afternoon. The sight of this gigantic flagpole reminded me of a story I was told when I first arrived that both Abu Dhabi and Dubai decided they wanted the world's biggest flag and flagpole. The story goes that, after much discussion, it was decided that Abu Dhabi would have the world's tallest flagpole and Dubai would have the world's biggest flag. I'm not sure if it is true, but what is certain is that this is very tall and the Dubai equivalent is an enormous flag on a not very tall pole.